Provocation
by ForeverinMoonlight
Summary: Don't do it. Just... Don't.


_Disclaimer: You know what this part is going to say - I don't own Dynasty Warriors. Etc, etc._

* * *

**Provocation**

He put up with a lot.

..No, wait. He knew what you were thinking. _Oh great, not another whining, 'woe-is-me'-fest_, right? Look him – poor Ma Dai, with all his endless _troubles_.

Well..

You're wrong.

That wasn't it. It was simple fact – he put up with a lot, just as everyone else did. War wasn't easy after all – though his situation could be so much worse, so he didn't complain too much about it.

_Actually.. _When _did _you hear him complain about it? Hm? ..Yes, that's right. _Never_.

Not a word.

All the carnage and the bloody company fighting and fighting _fatigue_ bone-deep, struggle after struggle as more and more loss is etched into your soul.

_Still._

He understood. Understanding didn't make it all _okay_, of course, but it meant he could drag himself through each conflict with at least some semblance of his head being held high.

Someone had to do it. Somebody had to _fight _to make the world _better_.

Somebody had to follow _him _and fight for _him_ and hope and hope _he _didn't kill himself too soon in his reckless charge to scourge injustice.

Great. Sure.

Ma Dai could deal with that. He had accepted it; his duty and his job. And good or bad; _rain or shine_ he didn't utter _a word _of complaint about it.

But this..

This.

_This_ might actually be the _last straw_.

He put up with a lot – like everyone, you know? We all knew as well, of course, that _everyone _had a breaking point.

A line.

A definite, straight line. Bold or thinly painted, it was most _certainly there_.

And nobody – _nobody_ crossed that line.

_Not a soul_.

Now, Ma Dai had seen many a man's breaking point. Usually the aftermath of the explosion, but sometimes during. The build-up, though, was the most terrifying thing. Obvious or not, once you realised what was happening – if you were aware enough as Ma Dai was, you should be

Very

_Very_...

Scared.

An accumulation, all kinds of subtle promising all kinds of unpleasant things – _annoyed_ as it was ignored _enraged _that it was defied then _tick-tock tick-tock _what level of brutality and destruction was it going to cause when all the shackles were finally, _finally _snapped and abandoned?

The only end was ruin. Pouring blood or nothing left to mourn, savagery or sheer calculated cold – that which lay beyond patience was an unpredictable, senseless no-man's land.

If you were unlucky enough to care at all you had to pray – _pray _that the outburst was a small one, or that you died before those boundaries did.

Anything could cause it.

The main culprit was time – day after day after day of _hard damn work_, horrors ever grating on body and spirit which found no rest; _no respite _from sleep or anything else. It was gradual – accelerated or no, and it only took one second to _snap_.

Irreparably, or just a small amount of time where you cared not one jot about gathering up the pieces.

.._Too many men._

There were far too many he had seen, wrecked or surrounded by wreckage. Even more who were..- _just_.. _falling_... apart bit by bit, tether shortening instance after instance.

Too many _good _men. Acquaintances. Comrades.. Friends.

_Too much._

Understandable.

You could only put up with _so much_, after all.

..And himself? Well. Ma Dai had never allowed it to be contemplated. You just _didn't_, if you knew what was good for you. The line had been drawn long ago, subconsciously, and the unthinkable had been set. What could you do, but have faith that you (and the shackles) were strong enough to hold on?

_Hah_.

But.. Finally.

It was beginning to occur to him, somehow.. That he _might just _have found it.

Him! The eternally cheerful Ma Dai, whose unconventional strength had never been in question!

And it was _all..._

_That one's.._

Fault.

…

It wasn't even an extraordinary day. Not _extraordinary_ as in 'particularly bad_'_. It was so average, actually, that that was irritating in itself – murky fields scarred and beyond use: check. A necessary but ultimately pointless skirmish for more people to waste their energies on – _check_. Simple bandits downed with so little effort it was saddening...-

Check.

_Oh well._

All typically frustrating, but these things couldn't be helped now. At least it was easy enough to deal with for any trained warrior – he didn't even need to _think_; instinct did the job for him.

Any luck, and they could've been home by nightfall.

_Simple_.

Simple! Nothing more than _very mildly _troublesome (average but still good odds for skirmishes like these).

Ma Dai had fought.

Fought.

Fought... – in fact, _no_, it was really more like _swish swish _swipe. Do the motions, do the motions, _there _they've stopped moving. Rinse repeat repeat.

Any that didn't run littered the nearby landscape as he _swish swish _swiped his brush. Enemy after enemy after enemy however much they put up a fight or left a parting scratch or three -

_Then_...

That was when it had happened. Just a split-second – but that was all it took for enemies as opportunistic as these. A moment your instincts weren't quite on top of and

_WHAM_ his world was spinning..

Spinning...

_See the pretty stars how bright-_

It's over. Ouch, so it kind of stings, but it's _nothing_ – easy enough to pull yourself back up again; brush it off, reach for your own brush –

_Freeze._

His throwaway comment of '_lucky_' died on his tongue, as another moment began.

It was.. different. Different and more terrifying than any other thing in his _life_, as he looked at the cocky culprit in front of him.

Blood drip-drip-dripped from the side of his head (no doubt his hair was sodden).. Drip-drip-_drip_...

However, there was no _pain_, and the sanguine liquid barely registered beside that _other_ red.

Heavy breathing frame unsteady yet held almost suspended, as he watched that man with increasing .. ire.

_What he was holding_.. _So_ casually...

(_Manhandling_)

His hand snapped to the brush but _of course it wasn't there_, until some part of him managed to convince the rest to use words.

"Hand it over."

Ma Dai's voice was strangely subdued – a calm before a possible storm (probably _inevitable_ at this rate). _He could feel it building_.

No, no. He was fine, it was fine it was _fine_ he'd get it back anyway it wasn't as if he didn't have a spare -

_Calm down. Calm down.. This doesn't bother you. It doesn't_.

Heh who was he kidding.

The bandit, thick enough as he was, took his time to reply. Played with the fire that _oh_ at this rate was going to kill him. _Messily_.

"_Hmm... _Let me think about that."

Ma Dai actually _bristled_. Oh boy. _Why_ on Earth did he have to _put up with this_? _This_, of all things! That chump didn't know what kind of danger he was in.. -

A pathetic day. A pathetic battle. A pathetic _peon_ only drawing out Ma Dai's time in this hole even longer!

Why. Did. He. _Have_. To. _Put. Up. _With. This.

Also, out of all the _infuriating _things _that one_ could do, _WHY _was it.. _that_?

_He was taking _too long _and he was _crossing..

The.

_Line_.

"I'm _warning you_." Ma Dai ground out, shaking, _shaking, shaking_-

_Sonofabitch_ had the _gall _to look _amused..-_

Amused. _Amused._ Well _he_ wasn't amused – forget the injury, _this _was grievous _beyond the pale_ it was an. INSULT.

(Rattled, rattling, rattling – the shackles were only _in his way_.)

"Quit _screwing around_ with me! Give me. _Back_. My hat!" His eyes flashed dangerously, the promise of nothing but pain dancing around in their depths – like this pain and.. _pathetic humiliation _that was searing through his veins!

_What shame._ The atrocity. He almost felt.. Naked!

(_Irrational _you say? Are you sure?) The stylish headgear. _How could you truly be part of the Ma family_ without it? And to see it – _his.. HAT_...

(_Trademark?_)

-Every battle before; every single bloody conflict it had been there, always there proudly sitting –

_And now, off his head and being handled like it was _nothing..-

...No.

(_Blasphemy_)

..._No_...

(-_How dare-?_)

_Hell. NO._

…

_Bastard _was going to _pay._


End file.
